Bulgaria is a popular destination for young tourists from Germany because of the beach
at Varna, a beach on the Black Sea which they call the Golden Strand.
Think of it as Europe's "spring break" destination.
Varna is where in 2014 went missing a handsome, healthy, single young German man.
His name is Lars Mittank.
Lars Mittank had been working for seven years at the coal-fired power plant in Wilhelmshaven.
He traveled to Varna with four friends.
One was a former high school classmate.
Their hotel was a posh resort and they had all-inclusive reservations... all food and
all drinks including alcohol on the house.
But Lars was eating very little.
He would completely skip breakfast and have only soup or a salad for lunch or dinner.
One night they ended up at the wrong saloon the "Rock Bar".
It was the summer of the World Soccer Cup and Lars got into a confrontation with a group
of German soccer club fans.
Lars kept it under control.
He backed off and the other side had no argument for that.
Or so everybody thought.
Lars and his friends were the last ones to leave the pub.
Then the five young men went to a fast food restaurant.
Lars was waiting for them on a bench outside the restaurant.
When his friends returned Lars was gone.
They went back to the hotel hoping to find him there.
When they awoke the next morning Lars had returned.
But he was injured.
He was waylaid by some local men, who were speaking either Bulgarian or Russian.
He took a blow to the jaw and his ear was hurt.
He said these thugs were hired by the Bavarian soccer club fans, with whom he had argued
in the Rock Bar.
His friends offered to stay with him.
But Lars said no.
He would be okay.
He would tgake a later flight.
On leaving the hotel they took separate taxis.
His friends left for the airport and Lars for the hospital.
A specialist at the hospital in Varna, Dr. Boris Najdenow, diagnosed a ruptured eardrum.
He recommended surgery.
Lars did not want his surgery performed in Bulgaria.
To prevent infection of the middle ear, Dr. Najdenow wrote him a prescription for the
broad-band antibiotic Cefzil 500.
At a pharmacy down the street from the hospital, Lars paid for and received this prescription.
Next he went looking for cheap accommodations by foot.
But the area near the hospital was known for black market trafficking.
He checked in to the local Hotel Color.
The facade says "Family" Hotel.
But one source describes it as a "dodgy place with working girls".
Lars used his cell phone to make calls to his mother Sandra beginning at 11:50 PM.
He said when he checked into the hotel, he got scared at the front desk.
He asked Sandra to cancel his credit card.
He told her he was leaving the hotel.
The hotel staff confirmed he left with all his luggage in the middle of the night.
Sandra received another phone call at three A.M.
Now Lars would not raise his voice above a whisper.
Four men were following him.
He said he was hiding "above them".
Minutes later he sent a text message.
"What is CFC 500?"
He seemed to be referring to his medication.
Two hours later Lars was flagging down a taxi.
Another passenger in the cab, as well as the cab driver, both reported that the pupils
of the young man's eyes were fully dilated.
The taxi arrived at the airport at six A.M.
Lars called his mother again from the airport.
In her home in Wilhelmshaven, Sandra went online and bought return tickets for her son.
She also convinced him to see the doctor at the airport before he got on an airplane.
Minutes later he called his mother back.
He told her men were still after him.
They might not let him leave by plane.
They might even prevent him from taking a bus.
He was examined by Dr. Kosta Kostov.
Lars appeared emotionally drained.
The examination was interrupted when one of the airport's employees came to talk with
the doctor about pending renovations.
He was a construction worker, but he was wearing a uniform that made him look like a security
officer.
Lars bolted from the doctor's office, leaving his luggage behind.
He ran out of the terminal.
He circled the property looking for a way out.
He climbed over the fence, which was eight feet tall and topped with barbed wire.
He disappeared into the adjoining field, which was full of sunflowers.
And he was never seen again.
Learn more on Facebook, at "Findet Lars Mittank".